Stars in the Growing Night
by dragonwriter24cmf
Summary: Darkness covers the Earth. Heaven is besieged, and Hell is out of control. Desperate, Sam, Dean and Castiel cast a spell to summon chosen warriors of God, in a last effort to save the world. The result? Allies, friends and family long lost. A quest, which may save the world, if they are willing to pay the price. Season 11 AU.
1. Chapter 1: Summoning Aid

**Stars in the Growing Night**

 **Chapter One: Summoning Aid**

"Are you sure?"

Sam looked up at the quiet question. Castiel had been working on sketching out the spell diagram they needed, but now he had risen to his feet. His expression was uncertain.

Sam frowned, looking back at the spell book on the work table beside him. He'd been using it as a reference as he crushed herbs and mixed the components together.

The spell they were working on was a dangerous spell. There was almost a full page of warnings before the actual spell ingredients and rituals. Done wrong it could obliterate the casters, and quite possibly a large portion of the area in which they resided. Or it could leave them all alive but damaged, physically incapacitated or brain dead.

Or instead of calling the saviors of the world, it could call it's destroyers instead. Instead of discovering a last-ditch chance to save humanity, they'd effectively end it.

Sam's lips pinched together. The world was pretty much ending anyway.

Six months ago, Cas and Rowena and Crowley had destroyed the Mark of Cain. And in doing so, unleashed the Darkness.

The Darkness. It sounded like a cheesy name for a children's nightmare or a crappy horror flick, the kind Dean liked to watch and laugh at. But the reality was anything but.

Within a month, supercharged monsters had started showing up. Werewolves that couldn't be killed with straight silver. Demons that crossed Holy Water like it was never blessed, and licked salt lines off the floor. Ghosts that didn't need physical anchors to hold them and had to be exorcised like demons. Including the spirit of Kevin Tran.

Within two months, they'd received word that Garth's pack, the most pacifist pack they'd ever known, had wiped itself out of existence. Garth himself had come to them, bleeding and on the last edge of sanity, and so crazed they'd finally chained him in the dungeon and risked shooting him up with diluted silver nitrate solution to calm him. It had worked, but he'd been violently ill, and he'd refused to risk leaving the dungeon since. Not even with silver manacles on wrists and ankles to restrain him.

Jody, Donna and the girls had holed up in Bobby's old panic room, still standing after the Leviathans had destroyed his house. So far, they were safe, but who knew how long that would last, especially after the latest developments.

Cas had critically wounded Crowley, after being trapped in a spell cast by Rowena. None of them knew what had happened to the King of Hell. What they did know was that Rowena had taken over. Rowena, transformed by the Darkness and the Book of the Damned into a Queen of Hell that would have made Abaddon tremble in fear.

Naturally, Rowena had unleashed all the forces of Hell on Earth to cause chaos. The body count was massive, the possession count was staggering, and the damage caused by omens was horrific. According to Cas, if things weren't fixed, there'd be famine next year.

And that wasn't the end of it. Cas had gone to Heaven's Gate, to try and speak to his brethren about what to do and how to help. He'd barely made it back alive, and his wounds had required nearly a full week to heal.

Heaven's Gate, and Heaven itself, were under attack, besieged. Specifically, besieged by Metatron, transformed by the Demon Tablet into a Knight of Hell, on par with what Dean had become under the influence of the First Blade. There was no telling if he and Rowena were allies or not, but if they weren't, she clearly didn't have any issues sharing her forces with him. Practically the entire town around the playground where the Gate Spell was drawn had been possessed. Hannah had tried moving the portal, but it had done no good. All it had done was cost the lives of two angels. Cas hadn't been able to save them.

That was when they'd started looking through the Men of Letters information. Looking for anything, anything that could turn the tide. A spell to re-open Heaven, a stronger exorcism, any information they could get on the Darkness. Anything that might help.

And finally, in the very back of the Bunker, in the area where things the Men of Letters generally considered too damn dangerous to mess with normally were stored, they'd come across this spell-book. The book had been marked with every warning, from 'Dangerous' to 'Do not open unless the end of the world is upon us!'. Well, everything in that store-room had been.

In the book had been several spells. Spells of mass destruction. One spell that could freeze everything in a 5 mile radius into stasis for an undetermined length of time. Spells that would transform the caster into an insanely powerful (and most likely insane) entity for a preset period. Cas had claimed those, reminding both brothers that he had been there, done that, and was the one most likely to survive such insanity.

None of them had dared mention to each other what the cost was likely to be if they went that route. The consequences listed in the book for those spells were horrendous, and the memories between them made it all the worse.

Which led them to the spell they were currently looking at. A spell that, if done correctly (and it was very, very precise) could summon chosen warriors of God to lend their aid in a time of ultimate crisis. There was even speculation in the book that the spell might summon God himself, or his chosen emissary, to guide the appointed force.

If ever there was a time for Divine Intervention, it was now.

Of course, casting the spell called upon the very founding elements of creation, unheard of amounts of power, the life force of the casters, etc. Screw it up, and they could literally tear the fabric of the universe apart. Or just themselves.

"Sam?" Sam jerked, startled out of his thoughts. Castiel was watching him with concern.

He hadn't answered the angel's question. "Yeah. Yeah Cas, we're sure."

"Sure about what?" Dean came through the door to the work room, carrying more component ingredients.

"Are you sure you want to attempt this spell?" Cas's eyes flicked over the diagram on the floor, the assembled ingredients. "It's...very complex. More difficult than anything I've ever tried, even as an angel."

Dean dumped his load on the table. "Well, considering the other options are one of us going supercharged kamikaze, or just letting the world end...I don't see we have much choice."

Cas's mouth tightened. "I still think I could handle those spells...and there may be other options."

"We don't have time to look for other options." Sam sighed. "And those spells..."

"Maybe you could take the heat, but I ain't watching you burn again." Dean's tone was blunt. "We've been over this, Cas. It's this or we're screwed."

Cas exhaled, shoulders slumping a little, then he nodded. "Then we should continue preparations. I've mapped out the diagram we need to follow." He gestured to the floor.

Sam did a quick comparison to the rendering in the book. It looked right. But then, he'd seen Cas free-draw spell diagrams of all kinds with pinpoint accuracy. He and Dean were both competent at spell-work, but Cas was a master. He wasn't sure if even Rowena was as good. Though she did tend to harness forces that Cas couldn't or wouldn't touch.

Still, he and Dean were both letting Cas do the drawing and the recitation on this one. For one, the spell was in a language that neither of them could read, which Cas identified as a very old, almost pre-Enochian dialect. He knew it, but neither of the brothers would have been able read or even translate the first word, let alone guarantee their pronunciation. And a mispronunciation here would have disastrous consequences.

Sam looked over the spell components gathered. Candles, white and every color of the rainbow (something about light frequencies). All new. Gold dust, blessed in a special ceremony and mixed into a weird kind of paint, to trace over part of the diagram. Silver dust, same way, same purpose. Holy water. Holy oil. Cas said it was to represent the sacred forces of cleansing and of destruction. Blood from all three of them, to tie their life-force into the spell. Cas had somehow captured a bit of his Grace for it as well. Neither he nor Dean had been willing to ask how the angel had done that. Not after seeing the look on his face afterward.

Sage, and half a dozen other plants. Clay, the element of creation. The clay had to be kept moist, mixed with an herbal concoction, and painted over the lines of the diagram that the silver and gold didn't cover. The candles were to be set at specific junctions of the diagram, each traced with symbols in blood and oil and water.

The spell itself had to be read and finished exactly at sunrise, the moment when darkness gave way to light. On their own, Sam and Dean would never have managed it. But Cas had an impeccable sense of time and he knew his own recitation pace down to the millisecond. As he had pointed out during preparation, it was a gift he possessed as a seraph. Besides, as a commander in heaven's garrison, he had been known for his skills in spell-casting and sigil-crafting. There were others who were better, but he had been accounted as highly skilled nonetheless.

Dean looked over the stuff on the table, then grimaced and removed his over-shirt. "You got everything drawn out?"

Cas looked over the diagram, then nodded. "Yes. I believe so."

"Then let's get this set up." Dean surveyed the components, then grabbed the clay. "I'll let you two do the fancy painting. I can put a good coat on my Baby easy, but that kinda detail work's a pain in the ass."

"Right." Sam picked up the bowl full of silver, then passed the gold to Cas.

The next two hours were spent in meticulous drawing, all of them on hands and knees. At any other time it would have been almost comical, seeing Cas crawling on hands and knees around the floor, meticulously painting symbols. The angel had shed his trench-coat and suit jacket, and his shirt-sleeves were rolled up. He looked very different from the Warrior of God or Holy Tax Accountant image he usually presented.

Finally, all the lines were drawn. Cas double-checked them, then stood up and dusted off his hands. Then they put down the candles, the symbols in blood and oil and water.

And then they were done with the set up. All three of them carefully cleaned up, making sure there was no blood or oil or anything else on them. The ritual was sensitive enough that having elements out of place might damage it. Sam set up and filled the braziers of scented woods that would be the only light they'd use during the invocation. There was nothing that prohibited using the electric lights, but as sensitive as the whole thing was, none of them were willing to chance it. That done, all three of them washed up and changed into fresh, clean, new clothing. Clothing that none of them had ever worn in battle, ever worn hunting. Even Cas changed out of his suit into simple slacks and a plain shirt.

The ritual called for things untouched by death and destruction. There was nothing that any of them could do about the various stains and scars on their bodies minds and souls, but they could clean up that much at least. They were also barefoot, to avoid any possible taint of leather, and all of them were weaponless.

Afterward, they re-entered the chamber. Dean lit the braziers. Sam doused the overhead lights. Cas collected the book. That done, they made their way to the ritual circle in the center of the complicated web of lines and symbols they had drawn. The gold and silver glittered in the firelight, the clay providing a dull and eerie contrast.

Cas stood in the center of the circle. Dean and Sam collected matches, then joined him, standing on either side of the angel. At different points during the reading, it would be their responsibility to light the candles.

"Cas?" Dean settled into position, then looked at the angel.

"Five minutes." The angel's eyes were distant, his mind clearly elsewhere, hopefully tracking the movement of the heavens in preparation for beginning.

Seconds ticked past with agonizing slowness. Sam fought to avoid fidgeting. Dean was twitchy, shifting from foot to foot and passing the matchbox back and forth between his hands. Then Cas's posture changed, eyes focusing on the room and the book in his hands with a sharpness that could have cut. Sam jumped into position as the angel's eyes flicked toward him.

Cas started to read. Harsh, yet somehow liquid phrases poured from his mouth, a language Sam and Dean didn't know, but which seemed to resonate with energy.

Ten minutes in, Sam recognized that Cas was reaching the end of the first invocation. He drew a match, poised to light the first candle, a white one on his right.

Cas finished the first phrase. Sam lit the candle, saying a quick prayer of gratitude when it caught the first time. He didn't want to throw the angel too much off his rhythm. That might have disastrous consequences.

Cas started again, so smooth you could barely tell there had been a break in his chanting.

And so it went. Cas chanted, reading the spell from the ancient book. At the end of each invocation, Dean or Sam would light a candle, and Cas would continue. Time passed. The air grew thick and hot. Cas was unaffected, but Sam could see Dean sweating, and his own shirt was sticking uncomfortably to his back. He had to marvel at Cas's endurance. His own throat would have been wrecked by the nonstop chanting that had been going on for hours now.

Finally, Castiel reached the final invocation. As he spoke, he shifted the book to one hand. This final invocation would require him to light the last candle himself, to seal himself into the ritual. Dean stood by, matches ready to strike in his hand.

Cas began the last phrase. Dean struck the match and set it in the angel's hand. Sam moved to take the book. He took it from the angel's hand just as Cas shuffled a half-step forward and touched the lit match to the candle with one final, guttural exclamation.

The candle lit. Everything seemed to freeze into a moment of perfect stillness, the calm before the storm.

Then all the flames in the room exploded, leaping towards the ceiling. The holy oil sigils ignited with a flash, causing Cas to stagger back with a gasp of pain. Dean and Sam both choked, pain igniting in their chests as the blood sigils also caught fire, burning with an otherworldly radiance.

The flames encircled them completely, trapping them in a circle of light and heat. Then the world seemed to tip sideways and fly apart at the seams. The ground seemed to wrench out from underneath all three of them, then replace itself with a gut-churning lurch that even floored even Cas.

Then they were standing outside the circle, each at a different point. Cas was wide-eyed in surprise. Sam didn't feel much better. The positions outside the circle were supposed to be for the chosen. He didn't understand how they'd crossed the circle, or why. Dean was poised to fight.

The flames whooshed, then seemed to shatter somehow, exploding off the candles, gathering into four distinct pillars of fire. Sam watched in trepidation as forms seemed to solidify. Then the light swelled, exploded, and the room plunged into darkness.

 _ **Author's Note:** And so it begins..._

 ** _**Belated Author's Note:_** _It has been brought to my attention by a guest reviewer that I present the impression of trying to favor Sam by shifting the blame for his mistakes, aka the release of the Darkness, to other characters, and treating him like an innocent. As this is not my intention, I would prefer to clear up the misunderstanding here, before it becomes confusing later. If you do not have this impression, feel free to ignore this note._

 _When I say 'Cas, Crowley and Rowena had destroyed the mark of Cain and unleashed the Darkness' I mean it in the most literal 'this is what happened' sense. Because they did. Cas coordinated the effort. Cas and Crowley together gathered the ingredients. Rowena cast the spell. Sam was, at the time, several hundred miles away in an abandoned mexican restaurant preoccupied with things like 'oh god I'm gonna die and Dean's gonna kill me' followed by 'holy shit, Dean killed Death'. And even if he had been there...these three characters are all powerful supernatural beings. All of them can more than handle Sam. He couldn't MAKE them do anything they didn't choose to do. So any efforts on the spell were voluntary on their parts. Yes, Sam is the instigator. Yes, he coerced/coaxed all involved participants into helping him (except Crowley, whom Cas convinced). Yes, he failed to call Cas and tell him to stop the spell because it might be dangerous. He is not innocent of being the instigator and driving force behind the effort. Not at all. I am aware of this. So is the Sam in this story. But he is not solely to blame for what happened. Not when everyone else in the equation is capable of knocking him unconscious, killing him, restraining him etc with the wave of a hand._


	2. Chapter 2: Catching Up

**Chapter Two: Catching Up**

For a moment, all any of them could do was breathe. Sam blinked afterimages from his eyes, wincing at the transition. Then, from his right: "What in bloody hell...?"

He knew that voice. A second later, Dean's voice cracked out of the darkness. "Crowley?"

"Squirrel?" Crowley sounded surprised.

"Dean?" Another voice, and one Sam knew as well as well as he knew his own. A voice he'd never truly hoped to hear again.

"Bobby?" He considered moving, but he couldn't see. And he wasn't sure if the spell was still active.

"Sam? Dean?" Sam's heart stuttered in his chest.

He hadn't heard that voice in almost a decade. "Dad?"

"Sam?" His dad sounded as confused as he felt.

"Everyone please remain where you are. Give me a moment." That was Cas, remarkably calm.

The sounds of movement, then a click. Sam and Dean both blinked in the incandescent light from overhead.

"Ouch, kiddo. A little warning might be nice next time." The voice was sardonic, high-pitched, feminine. Sam swiveled his head to look.

There were four more people in the room. Crowley, scowling, hands stuffed in pockets. And standing beyond him, side by side, were John Winchester and Bobby, both wide-eyed and wary. Dean was staring at his two fathers, blood and adoptive, in disbelief. Then there was the space that Cas had been standing in. And next to that, on his right, was a woman.

She was small, slender, compactly built, but in a way that suggested athleticism rather than frailty. Her hair was nearly the same shade as Dean's, honey-toned, her eyes an amber-flecked hazel. She was wearing a loose white robe, in a style similar to what they'd seen once while infiltrating a health spa. She was no one he knew, but at the same time, there was something familiar about her.

Then Cas stepped past him, blue eyes flicking over the woman. His expression was shocked, pained, hopeful...too many things at once, especially for the normally stoic angel. "You..."

"Surprised to see me, Cassie?" A smirk graced the woman's features. "Betcha didn't see this coming." The woman glanced down, eyebrow quirking in surprise, then back at Cas. "Have to say, bucko, I wasn't exactly expecting it either."

"You're real." There was more than a hint of a question in that tone.

The woman cocked her head in another of those infuriatingly familiar gestures. "Real as the law of gravity. A little bit surprised by that, but what can I say?" She shrugged, hands flipping palm up in a 'what can you do' gesture.

Cas exhaled, a long sound of surprise and wonder and...relief. "Gabriel." He took two steps forward and enveloped the woman in a bone-crushing hug. "Gabriel. It is good to see you again."

Sam's eyes widened. "Gabriel?" Now that Cas had said the name, he could recognize the archangel in the tilt of the head, the expression in the eyes.

"Sam? Dean...you know this woman?" John Winchester moved forward. His stance hadn't relaxed at all. Bobby, on the other hand, looked mildly exasperated.

"Yeah. Dad." Dean stepped forward. "I guess some introductions are in order."

"And then some ruddy explanations, if you please." Crowley interjected the words from his corner.

"Right. Sure." Dean put a hand on his father's shoulder. "So, you know Bobby, obviously. And this..." He gestured to the black-clad demon. "That's Crowley, King of Hell..."

"Former king of hell. I've been deposed for the moment it seems."

"King of Hell? Dean..."

"Let him finish the introductions first." Sam moved forward, blocking his father when John would have moved toward the demon.

John hesitated, then nodded. Dean gestured at Cas, who had released his sibling. "That's Cas. He's an angel."

"Archangel." Dean blinked. Gabriel smirked at him. "Not that you'd notice, but I sure did. Looks like Dad promoted my little brother here to the top ranks." She clapped Cas on the shoulder. Cas looked stunned into silence.

"And you are?" John Winchesters voice was low and dangerous.

"That's Gabriel. As in, the archangel Gabriel. Or, I guess, considering that he is now a she..." Dean grinned, and Gabriel gave him a look that could draw blood. "I guess it's Gabrielle."

"Cute, Deano. Wanna repeat the Tuesday thing again?" Gabriel/Gabrielle raised her hand suggestively.

"Gabrielle." Cas took his siblings arm. "Enough. We have bigger concerns."

"Considering that last I checked, at least three of us were dead, I'd have to say you do." Bobby huffed. "And since we've all made each other's acquaintance, how about we pick a slightly more habitable location, and you idjits explain what the hell's going on here."

Sam looked at the assembled, then met Dean's eyes. Dean nodded. "Sure. Library room? You take 'em upstairs, I'll get the beers?"

"Deal." Sam gestured his father, Bobby, the demon and two angels out the door, then followed them.

***SitGN***

Thirty minutes later, they were all in the upper rooms of the Bunker, seated at the long low research table in the front library. Dean reappeared from the kitchen area with two six packs and passed them around. Gabrielle and Crowley both declined, snapping up their preferred drinks of Cola and Craig.

Bobby was staring around the Bunker. "Hell of a nice place you got here. You boys here legit?"

"Yeah." Sam settled into his seat and popped his beer cap off. "We actually...um, we actually inherited this, about a year and a half or so after you passed on."

"Inherited?" John frowned.

"Yeah. From Grandpa Henry Winchester, matter of fact. He gave us the key to this place."

John blinked. "My father?"

Sam nodded, caught Dean's subtle head tilt for him to explain. He sighed and sat forward. "Turns out, Grandpa didn't just...walk out on you. He was involved in this secret organization called the Men of Letters." Gabrielle made a sound, and Cas glared at her. "Anyway, the night he disappeared, he was at a meeting. They were attacked by a Knight of Hell named Abaddon. He was the last one standing, he panicked, and he cast a spell to jump him forward in time. I don't know how it worked, just that he fell out of a closet in one of our motel rooms with Abaddon right behind him. Turns out, one of the guys she killed gave him the key to this place. She killed him, but not before he trapped her and gave the key to us. We've been living here ever since. It's got it's own electric grid, so we don't get charged power, it's own water supply, pretty much everything we need. And it has..." He waved a hand at the shelves. "An absolutely insane amount of lore. There's books on just about every subject imaginable here. And files on everything else. There's even stuff written in Enochian here. The stuff we've discovered...about angels, about demons...it's insane. And we haven't even begun to scratch the surface."

John sat back heavily in his chair. He looked like he'd been hit with a two-by-four.

Bobby huffed. "It's impressive, I'll give you boys that. But right now we got more important things to talk about. Like what you boys did that got this little campfire together. And why you did it."

Sam swallowed. "How much do you know?" His gaze flickered to his Father, then to Gabrielle. "Any of you?"

Bobby scowled. "Last thing I remember is you and Cas engineering that Heaven's jail-bust and getting me in on it. And that one angel, Hannah I think, coming in to give me a talking to." He grimaced. "Hell of a talking to, I guess."

Crowley scowled. "Oblivion, after my mother set your angel friend on me."

Gabrielle shrugged. "Last I remember, I lost out to Lucifer. After that...waking up here like this is the next thing I know." He took a gulp of his Coke.

John Winchester frowned. "The last thing...I came out of a Devil's Gate. You boys...Yellow eyes...then everything just faded out."

"Great." Dean sighed. "That was about 10 years ago. A lot of shit's happened since then." He set his beer on the table. "Okay. I'll give you a quick recap. Rest of you...chime in if I miss anything seriously important, and we'll get to your points as we get to 'em."

"I'm all ears." John sat forward, his posture a mirror of Dean's own. "What happened?"

Dean sipped his beer. "Well, we ganked Yellow Eyes. Thing is, before we did, he got Sam involved in this...this psychic kids death-match. Sam lost out to some punk soldier boy. And me...I didn't wanna lose him, so I cut a deal. A crossroads deal. Sammy back above ground and one year."

John started up out of his chair. Bobby caught him. "Yeah, it was stupid, but you weren't any better, so keep your ass seated, Winchester." John settled back.

Dean swallowed. "So...during my year, we hear of this super powered demon named Lilith. Also found out late in the game that the bitch held my contract. We were hopin' to get me out of it, so we took her on. Only, didn't work, and she sicced her hell-hounds on me, dragged my ass to hell. Four months later, or 40 years if you're counting hell time, Cas managed to get to me, drag my ass back out of the pit." he shot the angel a strained smile. "Don't know if I ever really thanked you for that."

Cas smiled. "You did." He shrugged. "Of course, you also stabbed me in the chest with a demon blade."

"A demon blade?" John frowned.

"Knife that kills demons. Well, most of them. Can't get the worst of them. I'll show it to you later. For the record, it does absolute jack to angels."

"Keep talking boy." Bobby gestured. "You don't wanna take all year."

"Right. So, come to find out, my being in hell was part of some plan to start the apocalypse. Break 66 seals holding Lucifer locked in Hell, bring about the end of the world. Cas, he tried, but he didn't get to me in time to stop that part. By the time I got topside, first seal was broken, and Lilith was working on the others." Dean shifted. "We tried, we really did, but most of Hell was out to break Lucifer out, and we found out later that there were angels trying to start the apocalypse too. They tricked me and Sam into thinking we had to kill Lilith to stop the whole thing. Turns out the bitch's death popped the final lock."

"Yeah." Sam swallowed hard against the memories.

Cas looked at him. "Sam, it wasn't...it wasn't your fault. You were being manipulated by Heaven and Hell."

"So...you...this...whatever you did...it's to stop the apocalypse?" John blinked.

"Nope. After Lucifer busted free, Heaven gave us some more intel. Turns out, the Winchester family was slated to produce the vessels for Michael and Lucifer to have their little show-down. Me and Sam, we kept refusing, cause angels gotta have permission. Even Lucifer. Cas helped us out, then Gabe..." He ducked his head at the archangel. "Told us a way we could seal Lucifer back into his cage. Crowley helped us collect the keys, then Sam played Devil bait and we slammed that son of a bitch back into hell. Him and Michael both."

"Yeah. I sorta died before that point." Gabrielle grimaced. "So...how did you manage?"

Dean swallowed. "Lucifer took Sam. Michael took our half brother Adam." John jerked in his seat and went white. "Sam took control long enough to open the doorway and throw all of em through it."

Gabrielle blinked. "Then, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't gigantor there be tangoing with my two elder brothers?"

"I raised him." Castiel spoke softly. "God...Lucifer destroyed me. God brought me back and empowered me. I raised Sam Winchester from the cage, with the help of the Horseman, Death."

"Huh." Gabrielle sat back. "So...if Mikey and Luci are locked in the hot-box...that'd make Raphael the one in charge." He made a face. "Dude's a little too uptight, if you ask me."

Castiel flinched. "Raphael is...he's dead." He looked away as Gabrielle pinned him with bright hazel eyes. "Raphael...he intended to restart the apocalypse. I refused to let him. We fought. In the end, I opened Purgatory, absorbed the souls there, and annihilated him. Raphael was destroyed, along with all his followers." The angel was looking at his hands. "Afterward, I discovered that the power of Purgatory was too great for me to contain. The souls were...too corrupting. Sam and Dean summoned Death to stop me, and with his help, we reversed the ritual." He broke off.

"And?" Gabrielle sat forward to look at her brother, the Coke forgotten on the table. "Come on kiddo, I know there's more to this."

"I...the Leviathan. They used my physical form as an anchor, then a gateway to release themselves into the world." Cas's voice was soft, broken with shame.

"Leviathan?" John frowned. "What is that?"

"Basically, the first monsters. They predate angels, demons, pretty much everything out there. Nasty bastards. Can be stopped with floor cleaner and beheading, but that only slows 'em down." Dean shrugged. "At least, it did until we figured out how to end them."

"How?" Gabrielle cocked an eyebrow.

"We found these tablets. Like Word of God tablets. One of them was all about the Leviathan."

Gabrielle whistled. "I remember when those things were first written and buried." She sat back. "You buckos got lucky finding those. But you'd have needed a prophet to translate."

"Yeah. We had one. Kid called Kevin Tran. He translated the Leviathan tablet, told us how to kill those bastards by killing their leader. So we did. Plus side, no more Leviathan. Down side, killing the boss got me and Cas a one way straight shot to Purgatory. Which was absolutely not cool." Dean grimaced and downed a large swallow of his beer.

"But you're here." John was staring at his eldest son.

"Yeah. Purgatory has a back-door exit for folks like me who aren't supposed to be there. Took me a year or so, and a little help, but I got out."

Gabrielle's eyes darkened. Cas caught her expression. "Gabrielle, Dean did not voluntarily leave me. I chose to stay."

"But you're here." Gabrielle looked at her sibling.

Cas's expression closed, shadows darkening the blue of his eyes. "I...an angel named Naomi pulled me from Purgatory a short while later. She..." He broke off.

"She took you. And from what I know of her, she probably wasn't gentle with you." Gabrielle reached out, touched Cas lightly with two fingers to his forehead. Cas flinched, but allowed it. Gabrielle grimaced. "Oh man, kiddo...you went through the wringer on that one."

"I...she wished to control me. She wanted me to help her find the other tablets, the angel and demon tablets, and the prophet. And she...she wanted me to...she made me kill Samandriel, and tried to make me kill Dean." Cas's eyes fell, locked on the table, hands twisting together in a white-knuckled grip.

John surged up out of his chair. Dean was up just as fast, catching his dad by the shoulders. "Dad, it's okay. Cas didn't listen to that bitch. He mighta punched me a couple times, but I've had worse fights with Sammy, and he fixed me up afterward." He met his dad's eyes. "I swear it on Mom's grave. Cas didn't follow through. He broke the brainwashing she put on him when she tried to make him kill me."

John settled back in his seat. "You mentioned...tablets? A demon and an angel one?"

"Yeah." Sam took up the thread. "We didn't get a chance to get much off the angel tablet. But Kevin translated most of the demon tablet. Taught us how to make these demon banishing grenades, which come in real handy. And, he gave us directions for a series of trials to close the gates of hell." he sipped his beer. "We actually started the trials, but..."

"But the trials are fatal to the person who completes them. Decided it wasn't worth it. I nearly lost Sam as it was." Dean kicked back the rest of his beer and took another. "On the flip side, we now know how to kill hell-hounds, free souls from hell, and we know how to straight up cure demons. Not exorcise, not kill, but honest to god cure."

Gabrielle whistled again. "Now that is some pretty impressive stuff."

Crowley scowled at the archangel. "You wouldn't think so if you'd been on the bloody receiving end of it. It's a miserable experience."

Gabrielle smirked. "Well, that tells me who the boys tried it out on."

"Shut up."

"So...what else happened?" Bobby spoke up. "That ain't enough for you boys to go around casting high level magic like that spell." he glanced from Sam to Dean to Cas. "This got something to do with the angels bein' cast down and Heaven's Gate being shut, or does it have something to do with the Mark of Cain again?"

John and Gabrielle both stiffened. "What?"

Gabrielle spoke first. "What do you mean, angels got cast down? That's..."

"The scribe, Metatron." Cas spoke softly. "We...happened across him during our attempts to recover all the tablets and complete the trials. He...approached me with a spell that he said would force all the angels to Heaven." Cas paused. "After Raphael...it was chaos in Heaven. Numerous factions, all fighting for control. Metatron said the spell would force them to come together, to iron out their differences. I...believed him. But the truth was the spell was meant to cast out the Heavenly Host and lock them out of Heaven. I didn't know until the last moment. And then...I was powerless." His gaze flicked to Gabrielle, then away. "Metatron trapped me, then took my Grace as the last spell component and sent me to Earth as human."

"Son of a..." Gabrielle sat back, eyes full of shock. "So the entire family is running around Earth?" Her brow furrowed. "But...you aren't powerless."

"I...took another angel's Grace in self-defense. And a few months ago we forced Metatron to restore my true Grace to me."

"You know, instead of this little discussion, perhaps we could get a cliff notes version, and maybe get on to the reason we're all here sometime this decade?" Crowley raised a pointed eyebrow. "Because I'd really like to know what in hell is going on."

"Yeah. So...Metatron cast out the host. Sammy nearly died from the trials. Took some angelic assistance to come back from that. Cas got turned temporarily human. And we still had Abaddon, Knight of Hell, running around the damn place." Dean sighed. "Short version is, Cas was working on the angel angle. Then Metatron got his claws into the angel helping Sammy, got him to kill Kevin. After that, Sam and Cas went after Metatron, while I went after Abaddon. Couldn't take her by myself, so Crowley suggested I pick up the First Blade."

John frowned. "I heard of it. But I was never able to locate it. Nor was my partner for that hunt."

"Yeah, well, King of Hell has some extra resources. We tracked the Blade. Only, turns out, the First Blade isn't anything more than an old jawbone of an ass, unless you pick up the Mark of Cain. Then it turns into this cycle, the two feeding each other. Juices you up. Also drives you bat-shit demonic crazy." Dean grimaced. "So...I ganked Abaddon. Cas managed to engineer a take-over, depose Metatron, get the angels back to heaven through a back door."

Sam sighed. "Right now, the back-door is the only way into or out of Heaven. And angels who come to Earth...they can't fly. Their abilities are seriously impaired."

"No surprise there. Angels are powered by heavenly energy. Can't get to it, the mojo can run thin awful fast." Gabrielle nodded to Dean. "So...you got Mark of Cain, huh?"

"I wish. Actually, I don't have the Mark." Dean pulled up his sleeves.

Crowley sat forward to study Dean's arm, then leaned back with an expression of satisfaction. "Well...wonders never cease. Bloody spell actually worked."

"Yeah, but there's a problem." Sam finished his beer, set the bottle on the table with a clunk. "Turns out, the Mark of Cain was originally the key God used to seal the Darkness, the source of all chaos and evil, away from the world."

Gabrielle went wide-eyed. "Hold on a sec. You're saying my brother transferred the key to the most powerful force of evil imaginable, so bad even Dad couldn't destroy it, to a human dude and let him walk off with it?" She sat back, exasperation on her face. "I always said he was a bag of dicks."

"Yeah. Thing is, we destroyed the Mark. And when we did..."

"You let the Darkness out of it's box." Bobby finished.

"Yeah. That's the size of it."

"Oh, now that is just fantastic." Gabrielle grimaced. "Really genius move there, boys."

"Shut up. Point is, it's done. And now every monster in existence is supercharged. Demons are running wild, and they can't be hurt the way they used to be hurt." Dean's gaze flicked to Crowley. "Rowena set herself up as Queen of Hell. Don't ask me how, but somehow she and that damned spell-book have some sort of freaky tie between them. She's...man, she's nasty. The stuff she's doing makes Abaddon look practically tame."

"That's Mother for you." Crowley grimaced.

"Plus, Metatron has the demon tablet. And it's done something to him as well. We didn't get close enough to look, really, but we know he's used it to marshal the forces of Hell and lay siege to Heaven. They're holding out, but it's close, and it means that none of the angels there can do anything about what's happening here."

Gabrielle looked to Cas. The angel nodded. "I tried to get to Heaven. It was...impossible. Hannah is running Heaven, and she's a good soldier, but she cannot break the siege. The last two attempts resulted in casualties and no progress."

Sam set his second beer down. "And that's why we did the spell. We were looking for a way to try and...stop this, turn the tide, something. Even re-create the Mark of Cain or something. Most of the options we found were kind of...kamikaze missions, more or less. It might help, but it'd probably kill whoever used the spell. And then...we found this one." He reached down, picked up the book he'd brought up and set it on the table, open to a specific page. "Theoretically, it summons and empowers a group of chosen champions or something. Supposedly, those champions receive instructions on what to do to...fix things I guess."

"So you cast that spell, and it...brought us here?" John studied the book. "You're sure?"

"Yeah. I just don't know what to do." Sam leaned against the table.

Bobby stood up slowly. His brow was furrowed. "I think I know." He reached into a vest pocket and pulled out a slim volume, and threw it on the table. "We follow this."

 _ **Author's Note:** So...what do people think of the champions?_

 _Yeah, there was a lot of rehashing in this chapter, but I felt like everyone needed to be brought up to speed. Otherwise there are too many landmines waiting for these guys. There's enough left as it is._

 _Yes, Gabriel came back as a woman and is now Gabrielle. Don't ask me why. That's just how the archangel wanted it to be. And...archangel vs writer? Not gonna argue. I might get angel induced writers block..._

 _Yes, I know Crowley is a demon. There's a reason he's there._

 _Next up...instruction book._


	3. Chapter 3: Champions of the Light

**Chapter Three: Champions of the Light**

Dean blinked. "What is that?"

Bobby shrugged. "Hell if I know. Told you, I don't remember much before wakin' up here. Just...when Sam said you were supposed to get instructions, I realized I had this in my pocket." He looked at the book. "It ain't mine, not so far as I know, which kinda implies that it was sent along with me for some reason."

"Right." Sam reached across and picked it up. The book had a plain, soft cover. It looked and felt like a journal of sorts. He turned it over in his hands, then tried to open it. It wouldn't open. There didn't seem to be anything specific holding it shut, it just...remained shut.

"That book's been keyed to someone." Gabrielle was staring at it.

Bobby held out his hand. "Here. Let me see it." Sam handed it off.

In the old hunter's hands, the book fell open easily to the first page. "Guess that answers that question." His eyes flicked down the page, then he set the open book on the table. "Right. Anyone who can read this page is supposed to be in on this little job."

Sam craned his neck over. "It's a...looks like a riddle."

John studied it. "Looks like a bunch of conditions."

Crowley scowled at it. "Wonderful. A bloody to-do list. And a highly unspecific one at that."

Gabrielle's expression was sour. "Yeah, well, never said Dad didn't like riddles and epic journeys. He always was a bit melodramatic."

Cas was frowning at it. "I don't understand. These conditions..."

Dean reached out and pulled the book to him. "So..." He cleared his throat. Then he shoved the book back to his brother. "Go ahead and read it aloud, Sammy."

Sam shot his brother a glare, then picked up the slim volume and cleared his throat. "Right, just so we all make sure we're on the same page..."

 _The sacrifice must find his worth_

 _The knight sacrifice his quest_

 _A knave must learn to give it all_

 _The driven one to rest_

 _A teacher turns to face the past_

 _The righteous bury pride_

 _The lost one return home_

 _Before Eden's gate swings wide._

Dean grimaced. "Great, so what does that mean?"

"It means that the way to save the world is to find where it all began. The garden of Eden." Gabrielle didn't look any happier than Dean did. "Only it looks like Dad set us a few guidelines we have to meet."

"Yeah, but are these people we have to find, people we have to save, what?"

"I think they're actually us." Bobby's brow was furrowed in thought. "Look here." he pointed at the lines. "Seven people, seven of us here at the table. Looks like each one of us has something we have to do, or face about ourselves, before we're ready to find Eden."

Cas frowned. "I can see where the interpretation is correct. However...how do we know which person each line applies to?"

Bobby shook his head. "I can make a few guesses. But only guesses."

John sat forward. "Knave...that's probably the demon."

Crowley snorted. "Bloody right. Though what I'm supposed to be 'giving'...it's not as if I have a kingdom anymore, or anything else."

Bobby grunted. "Still got your life, and your power. That's more than some of us have got." Crowley glared at him. Bobby kept speaking. "Based on the fact that I seem to have the magic book, and I mentored you boys, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I'm the teacher." Sam, Dean and Cas all nodded. "Dunno what facing the past is supposed to mean, but we'll get to that when we get to it." he settled back in his seat. "Dunno about the rest of them lines."

Dean was studying the page. "Righteous...righteous, like Righteous Man? Like the apocalypse?"

Bobby's eyes sparked understanding. "Could be."

Gabrielle nodded. "That'd make you or Johnny there a candidate for that line." The trickster shrugged. "Dad knows, you've both got pride in abundance." Dean and John both glared, but Gabrielle kept talking. "Nope, the line that's got me worried is that first one, buckos. Someone in this group is meant to be a sacrifice. And in this kind of game, that's not a good thing."

"Yeah, we'll sort that out later." Sam's eyes flickered lower. "I don't think it's you." He pointed to the second-to-last line. "Dean and I are home, or as much as we can be. Bobby and Dad don't really have a home any more. But you and Cas...maybe you're meant to find a way back to Heaven."

"Yeah. Through a demon siege. Not sure about that, Sammy." Gabrielle shook her head. "We're gonna need some serious fire-power, especially if it's as bad as you say it is."

"Cause two archangels and a high-level demon ain't fire-power enough." Bobby snorted.

"Yes, well, excuse me for saying, but I think we have bigger concerns, gentlemen. Lady." Crowley tipped a nod in Gabrielle's direction. "Plans and to-do lists are all well and good, but we seem to be missing a crucial bit of information. Specifically, do any of us actually know _where_ Eden is?" He glanced around at their faces. "Opening the gates isn't going to do us a bloody bit of good if we don't actually know where they are, and aren't standing beside them when the whole unveiling occurs."

Sam grimaced. "Ummm...there's a lot of theories about the location of Eden."

"Bible says it's in between the Tigris and the Euphrates."

Gabrielle huffed out a short laugh. "First thing...Bible isn't always the most accurate source of information. Second thing, maybe it was there back then. But that was several thousand years ago, kids. Continental drift, shifting landmasses and all...the world's a very different place. Not to mention...Eden isn't a purely physical location. It's supposed to be paradise on Earth, after all. The bridge between Heaven and Earth." She shrugged. "I think it's in Africa somewhere. Maybe. Been a while since I went looking."

"Oh great. Flying." Dean swallowed hard.

"There might be another option." Cas frowned thoughtfully. "The Axis Mundi leads to the Garden. Presumably, the Garden of Heaven would connect to the actual, physical Eden. And even if it does not, the Gardener, Joshua, would know how to reach Eden. The care of the Garden is his function, after all."

"True. But to get there, we'd all have to be angels or dead." John looked uneasy.

"Possibly. But Dean and I were sent to Purgatory in fully corporeal form. And Sam has traversed both Purgatory and Hell. There may be some form of magic that will permit us to bypass the usual rules of Heaven in a similar manner."

Gabrielle shrugged. "Hey, you said the Gate has an actual physical portal on Earth, right? Should be possible to walk right in, let the portal take care of the transition. Might take a little bit of archangel tweaking, but it's doable."

"Except for me." Crowley growled the words out. Dean looked at him, and Crowley shot him an exasperated glare. "Demon, remember? I can't pass the gates of Heaven in any form. I'd be obliterated."

"Maybe." Sam's finger tapped the table. "If you went through the full demon cure and then confession, then you'd be clean. A soul that goes through confession and gets absolved...wouldn't you be allowed into Heaven after that?"

"That...is not a half bad plan. Be sure to cause a bit of mayhem upstairs, but hey..." Gabrielle grinned. "I like the way you think, Sammy."

Crowley's expression darkened. "I'm sure you'd love to see me go through that again, Moose."

Sam's expression was impassive. "It's crossed my mind."

"Break it up you two." Bobby flashed a warning glare at both of them. "We got bigger concerns than past hurts on our hands. If we're looking for the original location of Eden, then we've got some research to do. And if we're planning to take the Heaven route, then we've got a busload of planning to do, on how we're gonna get Crowley a pass and bypass a siege of supercharged demons." He set a hand on the book in front of him. "I'm gonna look through this, since that's evidently part of my job, see if there's any more notes or instructions. In the meantime, we need some basic stockpiling. We need all the lore we can get our hands on to help us. Sam, that'll be on you. We need food, travel stuff and meals for here. Dean, I'll let you deal with that. We need weapons, basic hunting supplies. John, get the boys to show you what they got, and get a good thorough inventory. You three..." He looked at the three supernaturals. "Ain't got a clue what you need to do. Some general scouting and information gathering would be nice. So would some help with the supplies."

Gabrielle nodded. "I can whistle up the food for you. Pretty easy. Course, so can Cas."

Cas blinked. "I don't know...I've never used that kind of power before."

Bobby's gaze flicked back and forth between the two. "Right. Add that to the to-do list. Gabrielle, you need to train up your brother. Ain't no point him being an archangel if he doesn't know how to use it, and we need all the fire-power we can get."

"Roger that." Gabrielle flicked the old hunter a salute.

"Speaking of firepower..." Crowley set his glass on the table. "I've got my own power, it's true, but...my mother is a witch. Now, I'm not quite in her league, nobody is, but I do know my way around the tricks of the trade. Might come in handy. I know Castiel over there isn't exactly deficient in the spell department, but it's a bottom line fact that there are certain areas...not quite in his league, shall we say. And considering the forces we're going to be tangling with...fight fire with fire, as the saying goes."

"Let you cast spells?" John's shoulders tensed up. "That sounds like a bad idea."

"Yeah." Sam leveled a piercing stare at Crowley. "Honestly, I have no idea why you're even here." He stood. "Why are you helping us?"

Crowley sneered at him. "Pick a reason. Vengeance on my not so dearly beloved Mother. Self preservation. The minor fact that the Darkness will destroy Hell, and it's entire purpose for existing, and at some point, I'd like to have a go at getting my kingdom back. Payback for not being dead, since I dislike being on the owing side of the balance sheet." He picked up his drink and sipped it again. "Simple dislike of chaos. I'm an orderly man, Moose, and I have my principles, self-serving and demonic though they most unquestionably are. The Darkness does not align with either of those traits. So, until a better option comes along, it seems moderately prudent to align myself with you lot."

"Fair enough." Sam's glance shot to Bobby, and the hunter shrugged. "What? He's done it before. Lucifer, the Leviathan...ain't the first time he's chucked in on our side, boys. And it's not like he's pretending to do it out of the goodness of his heart."

"He also helped cure Dean." Cas's expression was stony, as if he didn't like the words he was saying. "While I share your reservations about allowing Crowley the use of magic...it is also true that he is more accomplished in certain areas than I. And, at the moment, more capable of securing items we might need. Gabrielle and I are both still impaired in terms of flight, whereas Crowley is capable of transporting himself with relative ease. And he has a point about combating fire with fire."

Sam and John both heaved nearly identical sighs of exasperation. Then John rubbed his forehead with a grimace. "Fine. I don't like it, but if it get's the job done, it gets the job done." He glared at Crowley. "I'm warning you though..."

"Please, I know." Crowley held up a hand, amused exasperation on his face. "Try to betray you, do anything too untoward, you'll have my guts for garters and my head on a pike." He snorted. "Please. I'm not an idiot, gents. I'm aware that I'm surrounded by people with an absolute surplus of ways to end my existence. And considering I just escaped oblivion, I'm not exactly up for a repeat performance."

"As long as you know where you stand." Sam exhaled, then shoved himself to his feet. "Right. Dean...you should probably show Dad where the weapons lockers are. I need to go get my stuff, start listing our different sources and how to get them all here, since some of them are still away in storage." He disappeared down the hall towards the sleeping rooms.

Bobby eyed the rest of the table, then shook his head. "Well, let's get started. We're gonna be short on time if we wanna get this sorted out before the world ends."

Dean huffed out a humorless laugh. "Well, at least we've been here before."

 ** _Author's Note:_** _Reluctant allies they are...and that's just the tip of the iceberg._


	4. Chapter 4: Preparations

**Chapter Four: Preparations**

The next several days were busy. Busier than they'd been since the Apocalypse.

Sam settled himself in the library with his laptop a stack of notepads, and every book he could read that had anything about the Eden, the Garden, or the dynamics of the specifics of the Champions of Heaven. There was one stack of spell-books, one stack of lore books, and one stack of miscellaneous information that looked like it might be important.

Castiel spent part of his time helping Sam, translating books that he couldn't read and looking for relevant information in various texts, especially the Enochian texts. The rest of his time, he spent with Gabrielle.

Gabrielle adapted to her new form with astonishing ease. For all that she had been in a male body for centuries, Gabrielle/Gabriel didn't seem to have any problems with the shift in gender. She was inclined towards innuendo towards the hunters, rather than snapping up female apparitions, but that seemed to be the extent of her change. She dressed like a hunter, in comfortable jeans, shirts and boots, and teased Castiel about his insistence on suits. She still had a sweet tooth, and was inclined towards producing all manner of unhealthy snacks. Dean didn't mind, especially when she could be coaxed into producing pie, but Sam wasn't as appreciative.

Gabrielle spent most of her time with Castiel. Together, the two of them began calculating the most likely location for Eden in the physical plane. The geography had changed a lot, and the work was painstaking and slow, as both angels searched their memories for various landmass shifts, riverbed changes, and other geological changes.

When they weren't working on the map and Eden, Gabrielle spent time teaching Castiel how to use his powers. Castiel's wings, as it turned out, had been healed in the transformation to archangel. Flying was difficult, with the lack of heavenly power to draw on, but Gabrielle taught him how to fly with a minimum of power drain, how to create food and drink and other materials with the least amount of effort. She also showed him the tricks to aid in recovering and conserving his energy, by using the energy and processes inherent in a human vessel, such as eating, sleeping (or at least resting), meditating and other such tools.

She also taught him warding. Castiel had always been a fairly good spell-smith and fairly good at warding, but he hadn't had either the power or finesse that Gabrielle had used to stay off Heaven's radar for uncounted centuries, nor had he the experience. Gabrielle taught him how to use his spells in ways that the younger angel had never even considered, such as pocket dimensions (useful for storing all manner of things, as well as reshaping reality to one's benefit), illusions, and veiling spells to make one entity look like another, as Gabriel had done in creating his Loki persona.

Castiel learned quickly, and reciprocated by teaching his sibling about his own fighting techniques, picked up in years of combat, often against terrible odds. His sword skills were impressive, and at some point he had picked up a rather terrifying two handed combat style. He had also, of necessity, become quite good at healing spells. He was no Rit Zien, but he was better than most.

After the first day, spent exploring the Bunker and reacquainting himself with life, Bobby joined Sam in the library doing research. He kept the small notebook close at hand, jotting down various ideas as he and Sam tossed them back and forth, and going through the books.

Bobby also turned out to be instrumental in keeping everyone on track. The old hunter seemed to know exactly when breaks were needed and what needed to be done at any given time. He made sure meals were taken care of, supplies scheduled and provided in a timely manner, and that everyone got at least the minimum required amount of sleep. He also made sure that even Sam took time for regular exercise.

Dean spent the first three days helping John loot the Bunker for anything and everything that might be a weapon. Guns, Knives, swords, clubs. Arcane weapons that the Men of Letters had collected. Holy water in abundance. Salt. Holy oil, because it would burn hot and torch entities that normal fire couldn't touch, though it had the downside of driving Gabrielle and Castiel away too. He also loaded up a few arcane books, especially those with traps, offensive spells, and exorcism rituals.

The days after that he spent in the garage, or running errands. He cleaned up and tuned the Impala to peak condition. He then selected cars for John and Bobby, tuning and refitting them, then cleaning them to a high shine.

When he wasn't working on cars he would go into town, selling old artifacts or hustling pool to earn cash, then buying everything he thought they might need. Food, especially non-perishable items like beef jerky. Beer and bottled water. More salt, plain salt and rock salt. More ammo, as much as he could get away with buying. New clothes for Bobby and John, who couldn't snap up whatever they wanted and had only the clothes they'd been resurrected in.

Gabrielle pointed out at one point that he and Castiel could simply whip up anything the hunters needed. Bobby and Sam both vetoed that on grounds that they needed to conserve the archangel's power, since they were cut off from Heaven and couldn't restore it as easily. Dean countered by explaining that he was also picking gossip in town, listening to reports by the locals.

He also started picking up the paper, as many different presses and editions as he could get his hands on. The news wasn't good. Weather all over the globe was in a state of flux for no apparent reason. Natural disasters, demonic omens, monsters...everything was out in force. Crime had skyrocketed, even in Lebanon, which was a small town with little trouble, for the most part. He and Bobby started mapping the occurrences, looking for patterns that might give them clues to the way the Darkness was spreading. Unfortunately, it seemed both random and widespread.

John Winchester worked on the weapons. All established weapons were cleaned to an immaculate state, each paired with the necessary supplies for use and upkeep. Gun were checked for proper sighting and paired with ammo. Knives were sharpened to the point you could shave with them, divided into silver knives, iron knives, steel knives, and knives with special properties, like Ruby's Demon killing blade. Swords got the same treatment, save for the angel blades, which Gabrielle and Castiel handled themselves. Hex bags and pre-set combat spells were prepped and stored. Chalk and paint were stockpiled, and various sigils for trapping and banishing entities were drawn out, both as references and as portable emergency sources.

Even sanctified blood and hypodermics were stockpiled. Getting the blood sanctified was tricky, but Sam had his ways, and he and John managed to cache a respectable amount.

Crowley helped with supplies. His resources, despite his temporary death and dethronement, were vast, and his transport spells didn't suffer the same limits as the angels. He procured hard to locate spell ingredients, and hard to find supplies like Holy oil. He also provided information.

Smoking out and borrowing corpses allowed him to move about incognito, at least to a point. He never approached Rowena or Metatron, but he did manage to gather information from some of the lower level demons and monsters. His information was invaluable for Bobby and Dean's mapping, and his supplies were useful for everyone. With Castiel's help, he even managed to gather together the weapons of Heaven, those that hadn't been burned out or destroyed in previous years. The Rods of Aaron and Moses were among them, along with Gabriel's Horn, which the older archangel took possession of, though she didn't reveal what it did.

Two weeks after the spell, the seven of them met in the Library Room. Dean served out dinner, then Sam, Castiel and Bobby produced the notes they'd been making.

Bobby opened the discussion by producing the journal. "Been studying this. There's not a whole lot of information, and a lot of it's in riddles. But, what I did get, and what I think is the main point is this." He opened the book to a specific page. "Says here that 'The Guardian holds the keys, in the place where Man's story began'. I figure that for the Garden of Eden."

"Yeah, but would that be where the Garden might be now, or where it was?" Dean frowned.

"Probably where it was." Gabrielle chimed in. "Dad doesn't tend to move stuff around a lot, and angels, especially guardians, are pretty steadfast."

"Yeah, but wasn't Gadreel the guardian of Eden? Cause if he was, then we have a problem. Cas said he was dead. That he was killed in the final fight to dethrone Metatron." Sam winced.

"That is true. However, Gadreel was not the final Guardian of Eden. He was removed from his post, and his responsibilities and possessions were passed to the new Guardian."

"Yeah, I've always wondered about that." Crowley sipped at his Scotch. "Guard's all well and good, but if I remember my Bible correctly, Man was cast out of Eden. So what would a bloody Guardian be guarding, exactly?"

"The Tree of Knowledge. It was supposed to be the only tree forbidden to man. The story says that an angel with a flaming sword was placed to guard the tree, day and night." Sam picked up his notes. "Doesn't give the angel's name."

"No one knows the angel's name. Not even me." Gabrielle made a face. "Dad apparently decided secrecy was the way to go with that one." She shrugged. "Names have power, if you know what you're doing. Not a big shocker that Dad would safeguard it a second time."

"Yeah, well, long and short of it, it looks like we're gonna need to go find this Guardian if we want to have a shot at doin' whatever the hell it is we're supposed to be doin'. So that brings us to you, feather-heads. You got any idea where in tarnation we're supposed to be goin'?"

"As a matter of fact, we do." Castiel produced a map. "The original Garden, it's physical location, at least, should be here." He pointed.

"That's the Middle East." John looked at the map. "Looks like a remote part of Pakistan."

"You got it, sport." Gabrielle grinned.

"So, let's assume that ought to be our first stop." Bobby sighed. "How are we going to get there?" He glanced at the angels and Crowley. "Can you idjits do it?"

"That kind of long distance transportation would be pretty hard on the wings. Not to mention you boys." Gabrielle grimaced. "Cas and me, we could maybe make a flight like that. But with Heaven sealed, we wouldn't be much use to you after."

"And, mechanics aside, we have an even bigger problem. That kind of power isn't going to go unnoticed. Long distance transport...it'll be like setting up a ruddy beacon." Crowley scowled. "Assuming you could make a proper go of it, you'll tell every demon with half a sense where we've gone."

"Great. So, what, we do this like normal folks?" Dean scowled back at the demon. "Case you haven't noticed, Sam and me seem to have ended up on a whole lot of watch lists over the past few years. And Bobby and Dad are supposed to be dead."

"A little illusion can take care of the appearances, and I know you boys can fake a passport or seven." Crowley grinned.

"Yeah, but there's a bigger problem. The Middle East has been a war zone for years. It's not exactly easy access. And assuming that we could disguise ourselves and get the proper paperwork, there's no way we could get the weapons through Customs." Sam sighed and leaned back in his seat. "And honestly, I don't much like our chances without supplies. And we're not exactly bursting with cash to buy more."

Bobby snorted. "Pity I died. I might have been able to swing a military contact or two. But now..." He trailed off as Sam sat up straight. "What? You look like you just had an idea."

"I did. Sort of. It's a long shot, but..." Sam fished out his cell phone. "We might know a guy. And he might owe us a favor. Maybe."

Dean frowned. "You thinkin'..."

"If you're asking if I'm thinking of Cole Trenton, then yes." Sam scrolled through the numbers on his phone. "I remember he told us he's Black Ops. High clearance. He might be able to help us out."

"Yeah. If you can convince him." Dean shook his head. "That's risky Sammy."

"Got a better idea?" The younger Winchester raised an eyebrow at his brother, then tapped a button. "Be right back." He stood and moved towards the front hall.

"So, how'd you come across the Cole fellow?" Bobby tilted his head at Dean. "Last I saw, you boys were steering clear of military and law-enforcing types."

"Yeah. Well, it's more like he came across us." Dean took a swallow of beer. "Turns out, hunt I was on eleven years ago, the monster was Cole's dad. Kid saw me kill his old man, didn't know about the monster part, had it out for me after that. Went into the military, got trained up, came after me and Sammy. It got a little messy, but we got it sorted. Few months later, him and some buddies on a mission came across a Kahn Worm. He called us for help dealing with it, and we've been on civilized terms ever since." Dean shrugged. "Well, him and Sam have, at least."

John frowned. "Khan Worm. I've never heard of those."

"Nasty little buggers. They burrow into their host, make 'em homicidal. And each one has a different weakness, so first you gotta find the host. Then you gotta figure out the weakness, get the worm out so you can kill it. It's not easy." Dean shook his head.

"You're talking about the thing that killed Rufus." Bobby scowled.

"Yeah. But the one in Cole and his buddies didn't care about electricity. Had to dehydrate that sucker." Dean shook his head again. "That was not fun, let me tell you."

Gabrielle smirked. "You boys really just do not know how to stay out of trouble, do you?"

Dean was saved from making a retort by Sam's return. "Well?"

"He says he can do it. Needs two weeks to come up with all the credentials. Then he's going to send us in as a consulting reconnaissance force, allegedly investigating possible military threats in the deep mountains." Sam settled back at the table. "I told him to set up for six men and one woman, all in their late thirties. We're supposed to meet him at the base closest to his house in two weeks, precisely at dawn, and he'll get us on a plane."

"I hate flying." Dean scowled.

"Deal with it. It's the best option we've got to go in under the radar." He glanced at Cas and Crowley. "We're going to have to look official, so that means you guys should probably wear either military gear or something casual. Something that looks appropriate."

"Rest assured, I can manage it." Crowley made a face, then snapped his fingers. The suit disappeared, replaced by black slacks, a black turtleneck, a heavy casual jacket in dark gray, and sensible boots. "I trust this is more the thing?"

Sam eyed it. "Uh...yeah. I guess."

Gabrielle clicked her fingers, and both she and Cas were attired in casual gear in nondescript greens and browns, with camouflage jackets. Castiel surveyed his new clothing dubiously, but didn't comment. "This what you want, gigantor?"

"Yeah. That's great." Sam nodded. "We should probably each carry a duffel bag at least, so we look more normal."

"Good idea. Hiking pack would be better." John nodded. "Bobby and I know what to pack."

"True. Though I suspect the boys know as much as we do." Bobby shrugged. "Well, looks like we have a first step. Now we just gotta kill time for two weeks."

"Actually..." Castiel spoke. "I...since we don't know how long this journey will take…I would suggest we take care of those who are under our protection. The boy, Garth, will need to be tended to."

"True. I guess we can't just leave him chained up in the dungeons. We'll have to figure out what to do with him." Sam ran a hand through his hair. "We should also probably check up on the girls."

"Girls?" Gabrielle sat up. "Do tell."

"Friends of ours. There's two cops, Jody and Donna." Sam glanced at Bobby. "Jody got into hunting after you died. She doesn't hunt much, but she will when there's a case. Donna...well, she got involved in a couple of cases by accident, and now she's kind of Jody's partner. She looks a bit like a..."

"She looks like a soft target. But she's good in a hunt." Dean grinned. "First time out, she got captured, then picked her own cuffs and took out two vamps. Cool as a cat."

"We should also check on Claire and Alex. I don't want to leave without telling Claire where I'm going." Castiel shifted.

"Claire? You got a girl, little brother?" Gabrielle's eyebrow went up and she winked. "And here I thought you'd never get there."

"It isn't like that." Castiel shifted uncomfortably. "Claire is the daughter of my former vessel, Jimmy Novak. I swore to protect her. We...found each other, a year or so ago, and I promised not to abandon her again. She lives with Jody."

"Yeah. And Alex is Jody's adopted daughter. We rescued her from a vampire nest, about two years ago. Jody took her in because her relatives were all dead." Sam nodded. "Cas is right. We should let them know what we're doing. And they probably need more supplies by now." He glanced at Bobby. "Leviathans torched your house, right after you died. But the safe-room is still in good condition. We fitted it up, expanded it a little with Cas's help, then put the girls down there. It was the safest place we could think of. With all the rubble, no one really looks there. And if they're ever discovered, there's a second place we can take them."

"Why not here?" Bobby waved at the walls of the Bunker.

Dean cocked his head. "Good point. We could bring 'em here. Plenty of food, water, electricity. Plenty of room. Plus, they could keep an eye on Garth for us. Jody already knows about him."

"That's actually...a really good idea. I bet we could duplicate the key for Jody."

"That is a piece of cake." Gabrielle grinned. "You give me that key, bucko, and I can make as many copies as you want."

Bobby looked around the room. "Sounds like we have a plan, so let's get started. We're gonna have to do some work if we wanna make this place habitable for women-folk."

 ** _Author's Note:_** _Well, they've got a starting point..._

 _Next up...Jody and the girls are in for a surprise..._


End file.
